Other people, like John Boyko, are devoted to an entirely different type of pet — the kind most visitors only see behind thick glass walls at a zoo.

"Come on Walley, come here girl," Boyko calls. At the end of a long pair of tongs, Boyko offers Walley a piece of raw chicken breast.

Encouraged by the offering of food, the 240-pound, 9-foot alligator, its jaws opened wide, heads to Boyko in a running waddle from an upstairs bedroom.

"You just get attached to them. You get to know each of them on a personal level," Boyko says.

The Bridgeport, Conn., man has 11 alligators, Walley being the biggest, all living in a Price Township house he bought specifically for them in 2005.

The house, which was in foreclosure, is registered in a limited liability company under their names, Boyko said.

An electrical contractor by trade, Boyko comes once a week to feed and care for them.

From the outside, the house appears abandoned. A covering of grass has sprouted on the driveway, and the windows are hazy from condensation.

A note in the front window reads, "Alligators upstairs," and in case of an emergency, lists Boyko's number.

A knock at the door causes the gators to spring to attention: A loud splash and scraping of claws as the gators waddle in anticipation of food.

Inside, all the carpeting has been ripped out, leaving bare hardwood floors. Instead of a sofa there are several large, black plastic "ponds" for the alligators to soak in.

There are eight American alligators in what would have been the living room. The area is sectioned off from the kitchen and a hallway leading to the bedrooms by a chain-link fence.

In the bathroom, a pregnant caiman basks under a UV light positioned above the toilet. Another larger alligator sticks its head out of a bedroom, letting out a long, rattling hiss as it cautiously sizes up visitors.

Walley, who has been known to sometimes cause fights with the other alligators, has her own bedroom.

Boyko picked Pennsylvania for his pets because it is one of the few states that does not require permits for exotic reptiles.

In 2003, Boyko faced a tough decision.

Since 1994, he had been keeping three pet alligators at his Connecticut home, but Bridgeport police confiscated the creatures after Boyko's roommate's brother, who was visiting from out of town, complained about them.

They were temporarily moved to a local zoo while state and municipal officials determined what to do with them.

In Connecticut, the state's Department of Environmental Protection has the discretion to issue permits for alligators but denied Boyko's request.

He had the option of either surrendering the animals to a zoo or moving them to a state that doesn't require permits for exotic reptiles.

Enter Saylorsburg resident Betsy Gimbel. She offered the alligators refuge after reading a New York Times story about their plight.

Gimbel's house was custom-built for her own nine caimans and 11 turtles. Each caiman, an animal similar to an alligator, had its own separate glass enclosure with a pond and a skylight.

In 2005, Gimbel died, and Boyko found a new location for his pets in Price Township.

His current menagerie ranges in age from 4 to 20 years old.

All the alligators are rescues, either taken from closed zoos or pet owners who eventually realized they were in over their heads.

Boyko says he's so used to being around the alligators that he loses sight that others might see the situation as odd.

"I just think it's commonplace. I overlook it," he said.

Boyko gained fame when the New York Times wrote several articles about the alligators being kicked out of Connecticut in 2003. In 2004, Boyko appeared on the BBC documentary "Americans and their Pets."

Last month, Boyko came into the spotlight again when five children between the ages of 9 and 13 broke into the gator house and pelted the gators with at least 50 rocks.

At least two of the alligators sustained injuries, including a broken leg, which Boyko estimates will cost at least $8,000 to fix.

The investigation into the case continues.

Boyko wouldn't disclose how much he spends on the alligators, but said it's a lot. He's been able to support them from some of the money he earned from appearing in the documentary.

They eat about 25 pounds of chicken per week, and when they get sick, unlike a cat or dog, you can't simply give them a pill wrapped in some lunch meat. A sick gator requires intravenous drug treatment with human-grade medications, which Boyko says he's learned to administer himself.

His veterinarian, Mike Wenninger, formerly of Creature Comforts in Saylorsburg, said the animals are in good condition.

"He does a good job as far as providing good lighting and a good diet and pretty good husbandry. The living situation is not ideal because it's not outside in natural sunlight, but the life they have now is better than a lot of alligators have, and it's better than being made into purses," Wenninger said.

Alligators require specific temperatures in the 80s. They also require special basking lamps that emit UVA and UVB light.

"If someone wants an alligator, they need to know that they get really, really large. You need large enclosures for them. It's usually more expensive and more work than what most people can undertake," Wenninger said.

Jon Lowris, co-owner of the Pocono Snake and Animal Farm in Marshalls Creek, said the alligators shouldn't pose a threat to anyone.

"Alligators are not man-eaters by nature. The other thing is that they could never survive in the wild here."

As for neighbors, they support Boyko's reptilian family. When the children broke into Boyko's house last month, it was a neighbor who spotted the open door and chased the kids away.

When the alligators were injured, two neighbors came to help band their mouths and take them to the veterinarian.

Jesse Kitchen, who lives across the street, thinks the living situation is "pretty cool."

"He has them under control. They listen to him. When he calls them, they come to him. When he tells them to back up, they back up," Kitchen said. "We respect his decision to have them. You can clearly see that he cares about them."